28 November 2012

Review: Knife of Dreams

I'm officially at the end of the Jordan-penned Wheel of Time books, and I really can't say anything new about the experience. I've rated this low because it was, again, an experience lacking much in the way of joy or excitement or anything resembling basic interest.

The good:

* The book actually abruptly begins to resemble something that has an endpoint. Characters are actually acting in a way that resembles a goal! The cynic in me wonders if it was due to Jordan's declining health, but still, it was good to see.

* Action! Things occur in the book that progress the plot in meaningful, interesting ways. Granted, those scenes are roughly 5 pages long and there are only a handful of them, but hey, action!

The meh:

* I knew about the one big "spoiler" here regarding Rand's condition, but I didn't know the how. The how was extremely disappointing and anti-climactic, and almost comes across as sort of an afterthought. The fact that we barely see Rand again afterwards doesn't help.

The bad:

* Most everything else. Intrigue and commotion within the Aes Sedai is handled kind of ham-handedly, and the organization toward conclusion is thus left really stilted, since we've had so many books in a row with so much filler that it's difficult to care about what happens to so many people.

Plus, with all the hints that Rand is the guy who's important here, the fact that he's had a role that has been little more than a glorified extra for the last few books? Doesn't help much. I get that the books shifted from being centered around him to being centered around those who are centered around him, but...

The Brandon Sanderson ones are up next, and I'm a big fan of his, so it will be interesting to see if he can fix what's broken.